


The Last Enemy that shall be Destroyed is Death

by Hermoninny_and_the_Waterbeetles



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Marauders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-11 14:44:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7056760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hermoninny_and_the_Waterbeetles/pseuds/Hermoninny_and_the_Waterbeetles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the death of James, Lily and Peter, Remus is distraught, homeless, and being questioned by the Ministry about Sirius Black.</p><p>This is the story behind that disconcerting statement on the Potters' gravestone:<br/>"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death"</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Last Enemy that shall be Destroyed is Death

**Author's Note:**

> This really is not a happy fic, there's nothing graphic but there's a great deal of emotional instability, morbid themes, references to alcohol etc. (and swearing, a lot of swearing)

Remus Lupin sat and stared at them. His lank brown hair was falling into his eyes but he couldn’t move it out the way with his hands chained to the chair, he didn’t particularly care anyway. He continued to stare at them.

“Mr Lupin, please answer the question.”  
“I’m not answering your questions until you answer mine, are you arresting me?”  
“We are investigation officers not law enforcement officers Mr Lupin.”  
“Good for you, are you arresting me?”

Silence again. 

Remus yawned.

“You don’t have a warrant do you?” he asked, he sounded almost bored, it unnerved the junior investigator, Higgins.  
“We are not arresting you, Mr Lupin,” said Higgins’s superior, Boldwin, "we have invited you for questioning because…”  
“Invited?” laughed Remus, “… _invited_...”

Higgins swallowed as Lupin laughed. His entire thin frame was shaking with laughter, but when he next looked up his eyes were full of tears.

“That's a good one that is. Tell me, do all you guests get this VIP treatment?!” he asked, raising his voice for the first time and rattling his chains.  
“You injured one of the investigators sent to collect you, it’s standard safety procedure.”  
“Oh I’m sorry, were those men who ambushed me in the middle of the night delivering your invitation? My _fucking_ mistake.”  
“Mr Lupin, if you believe you have been mistreated in any way you may file a complaint against us, but for now…”  
“Get me a form then.”  
“What?”  
“And a quill, and ink, and of course I’ll need to have these taken off me.”

He jerk his head towards one of his hands.

“Mr Lupin, you are not in any position…”  
“No, I know I’m not, I know my complaint will come to nothing, because the Ministry can do whatever the fuck the like with people like me, but I am _not_ going to answer any of your questions because I know my rights. I don’t have many, I know that, but I know that if you’re not arresting me, I’m entitled to make my complaint now, I’m entitled to be unchained, and I don’t have to say a fucking word to you without representation! And if you think I’m going to give in on this because you could make my life slightly more difficult then you clearly don’t know how little I’ve got to lose,” snarled Remus.  
  
Boldwin was saved from having to reply to that by a knock at the door.  
  
“Higgins, answer that,” she snapped.  
  
Higgins did so gratefully, only when he saw who was on the other side of the door did he falter.  
  
“Um… boss…”  
“What is it Higgins?”  
“It’s Albus Dumbledore…”

Remus sat staring at the wall now, while Dumbledore was having it out with the two investigators outside. He could hear their voices but couldn’t be bothered to listen to the words. There was one of those enchanted windows the Ministry had dotted around on the wall. A pleasant view of Hyde Park to keep people’s spirits up.

The door opened.

“Well,” said Dumbledore, “first things first, let’s get the witness unchained shall we?”

Remus thought about saying that he hadn’t witnessed anything, he didn’t. He thought about saying thank you, he didn’t.

“Now, as Mr Lupin’s representation I shall be needing to see the record of the proceedings so far. I shall also be needing a chair.”

Higgins passed Dumbledore the transcription, and was about to get a chair from outside when Dumbledore waved him back into the room and with a simple “no need” conjured an armchair next to Lupin. Remus ground his teeth as Dumbledore settled into the chair and scanned the roll of parchment as if it were a dinner menu. He was shaking again. He couldn’t decide whether he cared or not.

“Well, it seems here that the witness has done nothing but assert his rights and I shall be supporting his complaint about the unnecessary force and restraints as well as the denial of representation.”  
“I understand,” said Boldwin, “however, I hope Mr Lupin understands that refusal to give a witness statement when called upon will not look good on his record if he ever becomes a _suspect_ in this investigation.”  
“Why ever should that happen?” asked Dumbledore.  
“He lives with Black.”  
“I don’t live with him,” said Remus quietly.  
“It’s listed as your address. If you have been lying to…”  
“What Mr Lupin means, as I and other members of the Order of the Phoenix can testify, is that he has been away from house he shared with Sirius Black for a period of four months on highly important work for the Order.”  
“Well where was he living then? Why didn’t he change his address?”  
“There wasn’t an address,” said Remus, “I’ve spent the last four months pretending to be homeless and now I actually am, so go ahead, lock me up, I need somewhere to sleep tonight.”

Dumbledore looked at Remus, urging him not to make things worse for himself, but fuck Dumbledore, fuck everything.

“May we resume the interview?” asked Boldwin, desperate to reassert her authority.  
“By all means, with the consent of Mr Lupin.”  
“I don’t consent.”

Dumbledore sighed.

“May I have a moment alone with the witness please?”  
“By all means,” said Boldwin, leaving the room with her lackey hot on her tail, clearly just desperate to get out of there.  
“Remus…”  
“I’m not talking to them.”  
“Remus, much as I hate to say this Boldwin was right about one thing, if you do not co-operate as a witness it will be very easy for them to call you in as a suspected accomplice of Sirius’s.”  
“Let them, see if I care.”  
“Do you want to go to Azkaban?”

Remus opened his mouth, but his throat seized up. He shook his head, and as he did so fresh hot tears swelled in his eyes. Dumbledore laid a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s okay,” he was saying, “it’s okay, what we’re going to do is we are going to get through this interview, and then I am going to get you to somewhere safe, okay?”

Remus continued to shake his head.

“Remus, I know that it is impossible for you to see any light in your future right now, but please, don’t give in, not after we have lost so many.”

Remus’s sobs gave a huge jerk.

“The war is over, but we are not out of the woods yet, we must keep on going, and most of all we must keep on living… The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, Remus. Somewhere the dying has to stop, and the living has to resume.”

Remus took another shaky breath and, very slowly, nodded.

“You’re strong, Remus,” said Dumbledore, getting up to let the investigators back in, “the witness is ready for questioning now, and can we please have some water, and perhaps some tea and biscuits too if you’d be so kind.”

The one in charge, Baldwin or whatever, sent the squirming one, who must have only been Remus’s age, to make tea. Remus sipped his water, it sat unpleasantly in his stomach and he realised it must have been quite a while, and quite a few drinks, since he’d last eaten.

“Witness will now state for the record his full name, and his statement of consent for this interview to take place.”

Remus sighed.

“Remus John Lupin, very happy to be here.”

Boldwin ignored his sarcastic smile.

“Mr Lupin, will you please describe your relationship with Sirius Orion Black.”  
“We were friends, he betrayed us, now he’s my sworn enemy.”  
“And you were sharing a house with him up until a short while before the deaths of James and Lily.”

It could have passably been called a suggestion, but it most definitely wasn’t a question.

“Yes, up until, I don’t know must have been around end of June…”  
“Up until the 26th of June of this year,” Dumbledore interjected, “as Order of the Phoenix minutes will corroborate.”  
“Had you been back since?”  
“Once or twice, not since the start of August. I had my mission and Sirius seemed to be wanting to keep a bit of distance between us. Now we know why.”  
“What do you mean by that?”  
“I mean he was a fucking traitor wasn’t he?!”  
“Remus…” Dumbledore’s hand was back on his shoulder.  
“I’m not doing this, I can’t, I’m leaving.”  
“Remus, please, you can do this… it may help bring Sirius to justice.”

Remus sank back down into the chair.

“Ms Boldwin, might I remind you that Mr Lupin was very close not just to Sirius Black but to James and Lily Potter as well as Peter Pettigrew, he has been through a great ordeal in the past few days and is understandably traumatised. He is being very co-operative under the circumstances and I would appreciate it if you show a little more understanding.”  
“I promise, that with everyone’s co-operation, this need not take long,” said Boldwin, tensely.  
“Good, please continue.”  
“Yes… right… well, Mr Lupin, we have heard from other witnesses, including Albus Dumbledore, present as your representation, that Sirius Black was acting the Potter’s Secret Keeper while they were in hiding under the protection of the Fidelius charm.”  
Remus nodded.

“Yes,” he said, “yes… and he _bloody_ betrayed them.”  
“Were you privy to the information on the Potter’s whereabouts?”

Here Remus paused again, before very quietly replying “no”.

“And what were you doing on the night of the thirty-first of October?”  
“Lying in a ditch in Cumbria, watching someone we were spying on waiting to meet a Death Eater who never showed. Of course, we know why he never showed now as well, there’s a lot that all makes sense now we know we were betrayed.”  
“Who were you watching? Who were they meeting?”  
“I was watching… I was watching a man named Fenrir Greyback. I don’t know who he was supposed to be meeting.”  
“Was Greyback aware of your presence?”  
“Do you think I’d still be here if he was?!”  
“Sorry, but I don’t quite see the relevance of this line of questioning,” said Dumbledore.  
“We have to have a complete narrative of Mr Lupin’s whereabouts from the night of the thirty-first of October up until we managed to locate him tonight. And if during that time he had a meeting with a known werewolf, criminal, and dark wizard supporter then naturally we have to ask some follow up questions. Now, Mr Lupin, have you had any other contact with Fenrir Greyback?”  
“We’ve met,” said Remus, his hands clenching convulsively, “twenty-seventh of February, 1964.”

His voice was slow and steady, but it had a hollow terror to it, Higgins was almost too afraid to breathe. Boldwin opened her mouth but before she could speak Dumbledore has cut across her.

“That was the date on which Mr Lupin was attacked by Greyback and contracted lycanthropy. They have had no contact since then apart from the witness’s surveillance missions for the Order of the Phoenix. Mr Lupin will accept no further questions on the subject,” said Dumbledore.  
“I think we had all the information we needed on that front anyway,” said Boldwin, “now, Mr Lupin, will you please continue with your version of events?”  
“I lay in that ditch all night, silent as the grave, only sheer fucking terror stopping me from jumping up there and cursing Greyback into oblivion. At about 2 am Greyback fucks off, I wait until the coast is clear and then disapparate to a spot I knew nearby which was relatively safe. I send a message to Dumbledore telling him the Death Eater hadn’t showed, but that it probably wasn’t a big deal, it’s not like Death Eater’s go out of their way to keep their appointments with werewolf scum any more than the average wizard. The message I get back just says “something important has happened, come to headquarters now”. So I go… and I see Dumbledore… and he… and he… tell them Dumbledore, please, please, I can’t… I can’t…”  
“That was when I broke the news to Remus about James and Lily,” said Dumbledore solemnly.  
“…I… after that I… I went to Sirius’s house… our house… whatever… I… I was going to kill him. But he… he’d had the same idea as me, except he went after Pe… he went after Pe…”  
“Peter Pettigrew,” said Dumbledore.

Remus nodded. He tried to talk. He tried but how could he talk when he couldn’t breathe? His vision was blurred with tears or maybe his eyes were closed or fuck knows, he couldn’t see. They were dead. All of them. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dea…

“Remus…”  
“Mr Lupin, I can understand your distress, but you must answer the question, what did you do when you got the house?”  
“Smashed it up,” said Remus, “then I don’t know… waited.”  
“For what? For whom?”  
“I don’t know.”  
“How long where you there for?”  
“Until your lot kicked me out.”  
“And then you went on the run.”  
“They told me I had to leave.”  
“They told you you had been asked to vacate the property in light if the arrest of the property’s owner and that you had been invited to give a witness statement.”  
“And I declined that invitation.”  
“Where did you go next?” asked Boldwin, her patience wearing thinner and thinner.  
“Pub, Godric’s Hollow, pub, Cardiff, Hogsmeade, London, Snowdon… other places, I don’t know what order…”  
“You were drunk?”  
“Wouldn’t you be?”  
“Did you meet with anyone?”  
“No. Not until your lot caught up with me and told me your bloody ‘invitation’ wasn’t exactly voluntary.”  
“I think this concludes the interview,” said Dumbledore.

Boldwin looked at him for a long moment, her stubbornness battling with her intense longing for this all to be over, the latter won.

Remus had his wand and his small bag of possessions returned to him, his wallet, ID, a change of clothes and a toothbrush. As soon as he and Dumbledore were out of the Ministry he began walking fast, trying to put enough distance between them so that he could disapparate.

“Remus. Remus, stop.”

For some reason, sheer exhaustion probably, he did.

“Come.”

He took Dumbledore’s outstretched arm and they disapparated.

***

When Remus woke up it took him a while to figure out where he was, only the old Cardiff Cormorants poster by the door made him realise, with a groan, that Dumbledore had taken him to the last place he wanted to be right now.

“Remus?”

There was knock on the door and then his dad came in, he must have been listening outside. Remus sat up, his head was heavy from the few days of a lot of drinking and not much in the way of food or sleep.

“You’re awake,” he said, “I made you some tea, there’s some dinner as well, in the kitchen, you slept all day, I could bring it up here if you want, or you could come down?”

Remus let his head fall back against the headboard, his eyes half closed.

“Dumbledore told me everything, I’m so sorry Remus.”

He felt his dad’s hand on his and he thought about pulling it away, saying something cruel, something that would hurt him, but nothing came to mind. Instead he left his hand there and the warmth of it made him begin to cry. Before he knew it they were hugging, and more than ever before he wished his mum was still here.

For Merlin knows how long they sat like that, and then his dad set about again offering Remus water, tea, some sausage and mash, a bath… Would he like a record on? Or the radio? Remus ate and drank as much as he could. The food was tasteless and difficult to swallow so he left most of it but the tea warmed him a little, it was familiar, easy. They went through these motions over and over again, they’d been through them before, only before they were both falling apart and it had been James, Peter and Lily who had come to pick up the pieces… and Sirius…

“Dumbledore’s coming round later,” said Lyall the next day, “if you want him here, that is.”

Remus said nothing.

“I know that… with how things have been between us lately… maybe you’ll find it easier to talk to him.”

He was breaking his dad’s heart, he knew it. He wished he wanted to.

“There’s nothing to say,” he said, “they’re dead.”  
“I know.”

By the time Dumbledore came round Remus had had a bath and gotten dressed, being clean felt good, but the warmth had made him tired again. He was just generally so tired.

“How are you feeling?” asked Dumbledore.

Remus shrugged.

“Take your time, you have all the time in the world.”  
“I need to leave.”  
“Remus, I think for now it might be best if…”  
“I’ll stay until the full moon, but I can’t live here. I’ll find a job.”  
“Remus, your father is more than happy to have you here for as long as you need, he told me himself. I don’t think anyone would be in a fit state to start looking for a job so soon after something like this.”

It wasn’t a question, so Remus didn’t bother to give an answer.

“For now, maybe you’d like to concentrate on the funerals.”

Remus’s chest tightened. But he nodded.

“Peter’s family will be holding a small ceremony in three days, Lily’s sister has declined to make any arrangements but the Ministry are very keen to have a public memorial for James and Lily. I’m holding them off for now.”  
“They wouldn’t want that,” said Remus, feeling very sick, “they’d hate it. Especially Lily, but even James.”  
“I propose that we have a quiet funeral either tomorrow or the day after, the church in Godric’s Hollow are happy to do either date.”  
“Tomorrow,” said Remus.  
“Will you be ready by then?”  
“No… but I’m never going to be so one day’ll hardly make a difference.”  
“Would you like to say a few words? It might help.”

Remus thought for a bit. How? How could it possibly help? Nothing he could say would make people understand. People, normal people, lucky people, thought that friendship was nothing. But to him, to all of them, it had been everything. Even to James, who was lucky, friendship had been everything, because James had had love and love to spare. Love for Lily, love for Harry, love for him, and Peter. Love for Sirius, who they had always thought was the surest friend anyone could wish for.

“I’ll do it,” he said, “anyone else would get it wrong, would get _them_ wrong.”

***

“Lily and James Potter were two of the most loving people one could ever know,” said Remus, “they were…” he glanced at the parchment in his hand, “so full of love, even in times of war, that when you were with them it reminded you what you were fighting for. While the rest of us were losing hope, or no longer able to think of it all like um… like a…” he glanced down again, “no longer able to think of it as anything other than a fight against our adversaries James and Lily reminded us that this was a fight for better world.”

In the front row Remus saw Dumbledore give him an encouraging nod.

“Well… we got that better world… and James and Lily had to die to give us it!” his voice was climbing, getting louder and louder punctuated by pauses where he couldn’t speak at all, “but that’s not how you should remember them! They… all you lot, if you knew them then you’ll know how full they were, not just with love, but with life. And actually if you didn’t know them then I don’t really know what you’re doing here to be honest.”

Dumbledore raised his hand slightly from his lap: ‘steady on’.

“Sorry, um…” he smoothed out the parchment, which he’d been crumpling in his hand without noticing, “James and Lily… yes… they were so full of life and… and their deaths weren’t ‘sacrifices’ they were murders. Lily and James Potter were murdered, cruelly, and we should never forget that. James was going to make broomsticks you know? And if Lily had lived we’d probably have potions to cure a hundred more diseases in ten years’ time… and then there was Harry… because of Voldemort Harry won’t ever know what it’s like to be loved by his parents, and that is a crime against humanity. And I know I’m not supposed to being saying this stuff, but you’ve got to understand! All these people out celebrating have got to understand! They make me sick! Acting like this is a fucking victory… you know he’s not even dead right? No one found a body! He’s still fucking out there, along with his followers. You’re all sad that they died but I know what you’re really thinking, you’re thinking ‘yeah it’s sad, but it was worth it’ aren’t you?”

In the congregation people were whispering to each other.

“And don't you be fucking talking! Show some fucking respect! I tell you when he comes back you’ll be bloody sorry James and Lily died, you’ll bloody wish we still had these two on our side, because without them we’re _fucked_! We’re all _fucked_! And you lot are _fucking_ celebrating!”

The parchment ripped in his hand, and somehow that was the last straw, and the sobs he’d been holding back wracked his lungs, spluttered up through his throat.

“I’m sorry Dumbledore,” he choked, “I thought could but I couldn’t… please… somebody please just…”

He waved the ripped and tear-stained by of parchment towards the crowd. He saw Dumbledore rise slowly from his chair but suddenly there was a huge sob from the back pew, and the sound of someone getting heavily to their feet. Remus looked towards the noise and saw Rubeus Hagrid striding towards him. Dumbledore slowly sat back down, watching as Hagrid thumped Remus on the shoulder and nodded at him. A few words were exchanged, and then a brief hug, and Remus came and sat down next to him. The woman two seats down shuffling slightly away.

“Well,” said Hagrid, “I’m not the best at speakin’, and it’s always difficult speakin’ at things like this,” he let his eyes rest on Remus for a moment, “‘specially when the people you’re speakin’ for meant more to yeh than you can say. But what I will say is this, Remus ‘ere is righ’ abou’ a lot of things, he’s right teh say tha’ James and Lily were full o’ life an’ full o’ love, and that that’s ‘ow we should remember ‘em, not by ‘ow they died but by ‘ow they lived. And he’s righ’ tha’ everyone out celebrating should stop and think, and jus’ remember for a moment all the people we lost. And he’s righ’ tha’ this struggle in’t over. We don’t what happened to You Know Who, but we do know that even if ‘e is dead there’ll always be people ready to take ‘is place, and we got to live our lives a bit more like Lily and James Potter if we want teh stop ‘em. That’s all I got teh say.”

The ceremony clunked on after that through the meaningless traditions. Most of it went over Remus’s head. He was kicking himself for not making himself understood, for not sticking to what he’d written on the bit of parchment, for going to pieces when he most needed people to take him seriously.

After the burial Remus remained. He knelt down at the foot of the grave and stared at the gravestone.

_James Potter, born 27 March 1960, died 31 October 1981  
Lily Potter, born 30 January 1960, died 31 October 1981_

“There’s space for a short tribute,” said Dumbledore from behind him.  
“I proved in there I’m useless at things like that.”  
“You could use a quotation.”  
“I’m not using a _quotation_ ,” spat Remus, “it should be something special… personal…”  
“We could always come back.”  
“No! I’m not leaving my friends with a blank grave okay? I’m not… I’m not leaving here until I can think of something they would have wanted… I’m supposed to have _known_ them.”  
“Remus, you can’t stay here, apart from anything else it’s not safe, you know what happened to the Frank and Alice.”  
“Oh let them come, if they want to do me in let them, I’ll take as many as I can with me.”  
“Remus, remember what I said, there has to be a point at which the dying stops and the living resumes, that point is today.”  
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death,” said Remus, his voice suddenly quiet and calm again.  
“Exactly.”  
“I know it’s what James and Lily and Peter would have wanted, I know it is but it’s just so… hard, Dumbledore it’s just so hard.”  
“Did you ever break a promise you made them Remus?” asked Dumbledore.

Remus turned around, his expression one of somebody who had been mortally offended.

“Never,” he said, as if Dumbledore shouldn’t have even asked.  
“Then make them one last promise, make it now, that you will live through this, that you will not throw away your life because theirs has been taken from them, promise them that you will really and truly live.”

Remus turned back to the gravestone, to the dates and birth and death twenty one years apart, to the blank stone beneath, and raised his wand.

_The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death._

He knelt for a moment longer, then, wiping the tears from his eyes, he stood up and faced Dumbledore. His old headmaster took his hand and together the two of them disapparated.


End file.
